Hanna’s Study Abroad Adventures

I live in a huge apartment building on the 19^th floor.  I have a beautiful view of the city and an even better view of the smog that suffocates the air and creates an atmospheric effect that should not be allowed to occur across only a few miles of land.  Michelle Bachelet, the new president, instated a new system of transportation just in the last couple months in an effort to reduce the pollution.  I guess they don’t really want the whole in our ozone to get bigger.  Tansantiago is the new system that in theory will eventually work.  Previously there were like 8,000 micros (buses) that traversed the city in no particular manner.  You could get picked up and dropped off right at your door any time of the day or night.  Now they have cut the number of buses in half and have very specific routs that no one can figure out because they are not willing to look at the map that says exactly where they go.  Sometimes the micros don’t show up and no one really knows their time schedule, but there is a map of where they are supposed to drive. The micros dump everyone off at the metro stations because previously no one used the metro.  This is great because now when I try to get home from the University I have to spend a glorious half hour sweating profusely while suffocating amidst an immovable throng of equally sweaty people.  Luckily thus far I have found that while Chileans are very willing to whistle and catcall, they don’t actually touch.  If I had to endure that sweaty half hour metro ride while being unwillingly fondled, well, I would probably start walking.  The good news is that the pollution has already begun to decrease.  The bad news, everyone hates the new system and finds it most intellectual to discuss how terrible it is day upon day.